The highest city in the world is also the 'most horrific'
Harriet Brewis
8h
Many of us suffer from altitude sickness if we so much as look at a mountain. And yet, tens of millions of people across the world live thousands of feet above sea level.
Most of the world's highest-placed settlements can be found in South America, Central Asia and East Africa, with Wenquan in China sitting at a stomach-dropping 15,980 feet (4,870 metres) high.
However, even this pales in comparison to the remotest and loftiest of them all: a town tucked into the Peruvian Andes known as “Devil’s Paradise”.
Officially called La Rinconada, its 60,000-odd inhabitants live between 16,404 feet (5,000 metres) and 17,388 feet (5,300 metres) above sea level, making it the highest permanent settlement on the planet, as Live Science notes.
More:
https://www.indy100.com/science-tech/highest-city-in-the-world-2669301724
La Rinconada, one of the most hellish places on the planet
La Rinconada is a town at the foot of a majestic Peruvian Andean glacier, at 5,100 meters above sea level. It is an old mining settlement, rich in gold deposits that today has reached a population of about 70 thousand inhabitants thanks to the "gold fever". It is the highest inhabited center in the world, though it is considered one of the most hellish places on the planet.
When the gold deposits were initially discovered, the mine was taken over by a company that had only the men of the village work on it. These men had to possess a high tolerance to the harsh temperatures that drop into tunnels which reach -4°F. Potential workers also had to have a genetic resistance to the poor oxygenation of the air due to the high altitude. These courageous men were in search of gold, tackling a climb of over half an hour every day, breathing rarefied air saturated with poisonous gases such as mercury and cyanide.
The living conditions in La Rinconada are terrifying and inhuman. The only source of drinking water in the city comes from lakes contaminated by mercury, there is no waste disposal system and people are forced to live among garbage, without electricity and sewage, among excruciating nauseating stinks. There are no schools or hospitals and the life expectancy of this population is 30-35 years, about half that of an average Peruvian citizen. People die slowly, devoured by lung diseases and respiratory infections that over time affect the nervous system, causing deformation, memory loss, paralysis and death.
More:
https://mybestplace.com/en/article/la-rinconada-one-of-the-most-hellish-places-on-the-planet
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